Complaint Review: Western Union

My card numbers were recently stolen by a desk clerk at a large motel chain. He was able to authorize a transfer of 503.00 to the county of Belize in Centeral America.

Upon learning of this transfer to my bank account I immediately contacted my bank and Western Union. A operator in the fruad division of Western Union verified my information and explained that the person posing as myself had all my information correct to validate the transfer.

After receiving the receipt in the mail, I went into a rampage. My first name was mispelled by two letter, my last name had two spelling errors and my street address was totaly incorrect. I live on "Walnut" not "Warman"!.

I contacted Western Union again. Once again, I asked a operator in the fraud division about a fraudulent transfer and how come the security system let it go through. She explained that the system verifies the fist and last name, physical address, city, state,zip, and the code numbers on back of the card.

Immediately I said, " then how come mine went through with just about everything is incorrect!" She looked up my information and applogized. She wasn't sure and asured me that she doesn't write the security systems and that mine should of been unvalidated unless it was very busy. She explained that if the calls are coming in fast, some of the transfers are expedited throught the system and as long as the numbers and code matches it will come back validated for transfer.

So much for the high security of the automated clearing house system and our nation's Electronic Funds Transfer Act. How can a company that big and deals with millions everyday be ALLOWED to skip thier own security systems and lose our money?

Cory
Higginsville, Missouri
U.S.A.